In the heart of the Ironbound section of Newark, in an old brick factory building, sits the Shifman Mattress Company. Shifman has been making mattresses by hand at that location for the past 123 years.

The work of hand-stitching mattresses is physically challenging, but many employees are loyal to the company and stay for decades.

The history of Newark is full of stories of the many housing projects that came to define the city. It's actually where the city got it's beloved nickname -- Brick City. Most of the projects are now a distant memory, either torn down or boarded up and abandoned. However, the people and the stories remain engrained in the fabric of the city.

Bill May has been photographing the worlds most famous jazz musicians for decades. He also taught music to children in Newark for forty years and retired as the district's Director of Artistic and performing arts.

He found inspiration early in his life from his father, Boyd Vernon May, a man of faith who was a working man by day, and musician by night.

Perched atop a hill on Martin Luther King Blvd in the heart of Newark’s central ward sits a soaring and powerful remnant of Newark’s rich history as an industrial giant, the famed Kruger-Scott Mansion.

The 26-room mansion, built in 1887 by German immigrant turned wealthy beer baron Gottfried Kruger, is one of the remaining symbols of the wealth that once permeated throughout the city.

In 1933, when Hitler came to power in Germany, there was a place on Springfield Avenue in Newark, called Schwaben-Halle, where Nazis used to gather.

But Newark had its own anti-Nazi groups along the same time.

One man, a boxer named Nat Arno was a strongman for one of the anti-Nazi groups. His friends and family - sister Rose Yannick, wife Ann Arno, and fellow boxers Dave Halper and Bernie Callatane - describe how Nat struck a powerful blow for Jewish families in Newark.

In the mid 1970s, Newark, New Jersey​-native Tracey Norman was the first African American transgender model to work in the beauty industry. She did so undetected.

Tracey graced the pages of fashion magazines all over the world including Essence​ and Vogue Italia​, and was best known for appearing on a box of Clairol​ hair color, before her outing nearly ended her career.

Khali Raymond​ is 17 years old, and he's has written six books. His experience in writing and self-publishing earned the recognition of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka​, who hosted his first official book signing at City Hall.

Only a senior at East Side High School, Kahli already envisions a day where he'll be honored with a key to the city for his accomplishments. He sat down to talk about what life was like before he finished writing his first novel "The Ballad of Sidney Hill."

Rayvon Lisbon was born in 1989. When he was just six years old, he was separated from his mother and grew up moving from one foster home to the next. As a teenager in South Ward, he doubted his chances of getting out of high school, and barely let himself dream of attending college.

But in 2015, Rayvon graduated from Rutgers – Newark with a degree in Sociology.

In honor of this city's 350th Anniversary, we’re bringing you Newark’s stories — voices from unheard Newarkers, from the Ironbound to Weequahic to University Heights.

Today we’re heading to the North Ward, with a story from Mae Smith from 1982. That was the year that Newark first hired female police officers — just nine of them — to patrol the city. They faced skepticism and discrimination, but Mae stuck with it for 25 years. She recently sat down to talk about what those early years were like.

In honor of this city's 350th Anniversary, we’re bringing you Newark’s stories — voices from unheard Newarkers… from the Ironbound to Weequahic to University Heights. Our first is from a landmark restaurant, downtown.